Buffett's firm wins auction for ResCap's loans

OMAHA, Neb. -- Warren Buffett's company won the auction for Residential Capital's loan portfolio with a $1.5 billion bid this week.

That means the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will acquire the loans as long as a bankruptcy judge approves.

ResCap's board of directors said Thursday that Berkshire had submitted the best bid for its portfolio of 47,000 loans.

Berkshire's winning bid is slightly higher than the $1.442 billion minimum Berkshire promised when it became the lead bidder for ResCap's loan portfolio in June.

ResCap's parent company is Ally Financial, which is 74 percent owned by the U.S. government as a result of bailouts. ResCap has been a drain on Ally's finances for years because it has struggled to make payments on its debt ever since the U.S. housing market collapsed in 2007.